Monday, January 19, 2004
WILL THE REAL JOHN KERRY PLEASE STAND UP? I find myself nodding in agreement with this assessment.
(It's partly a testament to Kerry's complete lack of identity--even after 1,000 years in the Senate--that nobody really knows what the hell the guy is about, other than having touched the hem of JFK's garment as a boy, getting shot in Vietnam, and marrying the massively rich widow of a dead senator cum ketchup heir. Indeed, Kerry's bizarre series of tough-guy stunts--e.g. riding a Harley on The Tonight Show--is a nearly open admission that the guy is a cipher who is desperate to create a public persona; I half expect him to bend iron bars and explode a hot water bottle with lung power during the Iowa caucuses).I never saw much about Kerry that inspired me while I lived in Massachusetts. And ever since I heard that the medals he through over the wall in protest of the Vietnam War weren't actually his, I have had little incentive to change my mind. Protesting the War, especially from Kerry's position of experience, was an entirely appropriate thing to do. But if you are going to protest the war and publicly take part in a symbolic exercise of rejecting the honors given you by the government, then go ahead and really do it. Don't keep your own medals to proudly display on your office wall when others really do throw theirs away. Anyway, enough silly venting for today.
